Restart life

Chapter 224 0221 [Celebrities Should Be Mindful of the Impact of Their Words]

"Stop teasing President Chen, everyone. Go check out another repost; it's discussing unpaid wages for migrant workers. Here's the link..."

Amidst countless taunts, someone suddenly posted a link, and its keywords immediately attracted the attention of netizens.

The title of the repost was: "Law students talk about migrant workers demanding unpaid wages, but apart from Chen Guiliang, they all dodged the question."

Li Guoqin: "This is a policy and legal issue, which we company owners cannot answer. Moreover, internet companies generally do not hire migrant workers."

Student G: "Do any of our alumni's companies provide their employees with the five social insurances and one housing fund?"

Wang Zhidong: "My company is very legitimate. Let's change the subject."

Student G: "Why aren't the others saying anything?"

Chen Guiliang: "Let me explain. Currently, the country is only promoting three types of insurance, but ByteDance and Game Science have already provided their employees with five types of insurance. Housing fund is not mandatory, but we still pay for it for our employees. Last autumn, my company implemented five types of insurance and housing fund. I believe that employees are the foundation of a company, and no matter what we do, we cannot let our employees suffer."

Student G: "What is Mr. Chen's opinion on the arrears of migrant workers' wages?"

Chen Guiliang: "My father went to Guangzhou to work a long time ago. When he was subcontracting a small project, his partner ran away with the final payment, leaving some of the migrant workers' wages unpaid. My parents have been working to pay off those back wages. It took them eight years to settle the back wages. Last year, they asked me for another sum of money to pay off the interest on the back wages."

(Applause from the audience.)
Chen Guiliang: "Right now, it all depends on conscience because the penalties are not severe enough. Even if someone is sued for wage arrears, the boss will at most make up the wages, without imposing a sufficient fine, let alone revoking their construction license."

Student G: "Thank you. I'm very satisfied with this answer."

This conversation was posted on Tianya Forum, and the post generated even more buzz than the previous GDP discussion.

"Damn! Our state-owned enterprises only offer three types of insurance. Mr. Chen's two companies offer five types of insurance and one housing fund?"

"I'm not saying anything more. I'll resign right away and apply for a job with General Manager Chen."

"Support conscientious entrepreneurs like Chen Guiliang!"

"I take back what I said before that mocked President Chen. He likes GDP so much, let him keep bragging. Anyway, bragging isn't a crime."

"Is what happened with his parents true or false?"

"Of course it's true. It was reported by the Xihua City Daily. Mr. Chen's family situation is considered quite good in the countryside. But because he was cheated by his business partner, his parents have been working to pay off the debt and haven't been able to come home for eight years. When Mr. Chen was in junior high and high school, he couldn't even afford meat and ate vegetables every meal."

"Haha, I know where that student was referring to in certain places."

Where is upstairs?

"We have a dragon here. Can you guess?"

"..."

The event at Peking University has already ended.

Li Guoqin privately told Chen Guiliang, "Young Chen, you're still too young. That student just asked some sensitive questions on purpose to show off. You didn't need to say so much."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "I'm a straightforward person, I can't keep things to myself. Haha, I'll say whatever comes to mind."

Li Guoqin said, "Such words are easy to offend people, so it's best to say less of them in the future."

Wang Zhidong glanced at Chen Guiliang thoughtfully a few times, feeling that Chen Guiliang was doing it on purpose.

Actually, Wang Zhidong really misunderstood.

Chen Guiliang had no intention of promoting himself; he simply wanted to say what he wanted to say.

If you dare not say anything, what kind of reborn person are you?
He reads the news every day, and sometimes he gets so angry while reading that he wants to curse.

I've been wanting to get this off my chest for a long time.

As a result, the higher-level leaders attached great importance to the matter and ordered the company to settle the 80 yuan in back wages.

Chen Guiliang, who was reborn twenty years later, felt extremely uncomfortable upon seeing this news.

It even awakened his memories of being an undercover reporter in his past life!

However, his words came into contact with a certain case, completely igniting public opinion on the matter.

……

"Xiao Chen, I suggest you avoid giving interviews lately. It's hard to extricate yourself from getting caught up in public opinion."

"Understood. Thank you for reminding me, sir."

Chen Guiliang hung up the phone, feeling a bit of a headache.

Earlier this year, a migrant worker surnamed Li was beaten to death by five people while demanding unpaid wages. The autopsy results showed that the death was caused by a sudden increase in cardiac load, ruling out death from external violence.

His children dropped out of school, sold all the family's food, borrowed money from everyone, and appealed to the media while simultaneously contacting the media.

There was a big fuss.

Two weeks ago, the results of the autopsy were released: the cause of death was an acute attack of his pre-existing heart disease triggered by factors such as external injury and emotional distress.

The five men who assaulted him were finally arrested according to the law. Chen Guiliang, who was trying to quit smoking, couldn't resist taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

He had just read various comments from netizens. There was certainly no problem with discussing the matter objectively, but many people were inciting others and even taking the opportunity to spread rumors and smear him.

Chen Guiliang even saw many familiar IDs, all of whom were future big V's on the side.

Chen Guiliang inexplicably became the "leader" of this public opinion.

Oh shit.

He was unhappy if he didn't speak.

He was even more upset that his words were being used against him.

After finishing a cigarette in silence, Chen Guiliang disabled comments on his homepage. Some of the comments were just annoying!

Secretary Hu Yuexia was constantly answering phone calls in the outer cubicle: "I'm sorry, Mr. Chen is very busy and cannot accept interviews at the moment."

Chen Guiliang felt very annoyed, while the media were celebrating.

Moreover, he was widely praised and hailed as a "conscientious entrepreneur."

Some reporters even went to great lengths to interview Chen Guiliang's parents in the village, asking them about the details of how they worked to repay the back wages.

Chen Xinghua still remembered his son's instructions and refused to let the reporter take pictures, replying, "Paying back debts is a matter of course. What's there to talk about? My fellow villagers work for me, so I should pay them wages."

When pressed for answers, Chen Xinghua remained silent.

The reporter could only interview other villagers.

……

On the rooftop of the building.

Chen Guiliang stood inside the railing, gazing at the city.

It's another sandstorm today.

Xie Yang put his mask on his chin, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he exhaled smoke: "Beijing is great in every way, but the climate is really unbearable. When I retire, I'm determined not to live out my retirement in Beijing."

Chen Guiliang said, "Do you know what your greatest strength is?"

Xie Yang casually tossed his hair: "Am I that handsome?"

“You keep your mouth shut and don’t talk nonsense,” Chen Guiliang said.

Xie Yang said, "You didn't just say anything. You spoke very well this time, and you were very successful. Both print media and the internet are praising you."

“The more it’s like this, the more dangerous it is. The higher you fly, the harder you fall,” Chen Guiliang said. “Public opinion likes to create idols, and it also likes to smash those idols. Damn it, the Beijing News praised me to the extreme this time. That article was so damn nauseating to read.”

Xie Yang laughed and said, "Haha, you've become a youth idol now."

Chen Guiliang said, "I plan to take a break for a while and focus on teaching and writing books."

"You won't be making public statements anymore?" Xie Yang asked.

"How could that be? We still have to criticize, but we need to be careful with our wording and angle." Chen Guiliang wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Xie Yang stubbed out his cigarette and put his mask back on: "We have a new opponent now, and the match will be even more difficult for us."

"Who is it?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Xie Yang said, "51.com. The founder used to work with Ma Yun, and he also created 2345 website navigation."

Chen Guiliang asked, "Isn't this a gaming community?"

“No,” Xie Yang said. “Apart from the mobile microblog, its functions are exactly the same as HaiNei.com. Its main users come from traffic redirected by 2345 Navigation, and most of them are young people working in big cities, as well as netizens in second- and third-tier cities and below. I discovered it at the beginning of the year, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. Many new websites like this have sprung up. But just two days ago, 51.com announced that its registered users had exceeded one million.”

Chen Guiliang exclaimed in surprise, "This user group is targeting the grassroots."

51.com has emerged from a large group of SNS websites, and its development strategy is truly unique.

Many of its users don't even know how to use the Baidu search engine. Every time they turn on their computer to go online, they habitually use 2345 Navigation, which redirects them to 51.com, and then everyone has a great time.

They've never even heard of Kaixin001 or HaiNei.com!
Xie Yang said, "How about we acquire 9991.com? This navigation website is developing very quickly, and no venture capital has yet invested in it."

“There’s no need. This website is too unethical. Acquiring it would be detrimental to the company’s image,” Chen Guiliang said. “You want to learn from 51.com and attract grassroots users from navigation websites, right?”

Xie Yang nodded and said, "Yes."

Chen Guiliang said, "Just pay advertising fees to websites like hao123, 265, and 9991. Let them put HaiNei.com on the homepage of their navigation sites."

“That works too,” Xie Yang said.

Chen Guiliang tugged at his mask: "I'm going to the library. I need to do some research and finish writing the fifth volume of 'Those Things About the Ming Dynasty.' I'm too lazy to read online comments these days!"

(End of this chapter)